Ricoh Company, Ltd.

15-5, Minami-aoyama 1-chome
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107
Japan
(03) 3479-3111
Fax: (03) 3403-1578

Public Company
Incorporated: 1936 as Riken Kankoshi Company Limited
Employees: 37,000
Sales: ¥835.46 billion (US$5.81 billion)
Stock Exchanges: Tokyo Osaka Nagoya Fukuoka Sapporo Hiroshima Niigata Kyoto Amsterdam Frankfurt Paris

A diversified manufacturer of automated office equipment and electronic and consumer products, Ricoh Company has facilities throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. The firm’s goals are to achieve globalization by boosting overseas production—particularly in the United States and Europe— and to become a leader in the office-automation market.

Although the company’s initial efforts lay in another area of image technology—photography—its ability to win market share was evident as far back as 1936, when Riken Kankoshi Company was formed to produce positive sensitive paper, used to develop film. Under the leadership of Kiyoshi Ichimura the firm instantly took the lead in the Japanese sensitized-paper market. In 1938, after deciding to produce cameras as well, Ichimura changed the company’s name to Riken Optical Company and introduced the Olympic 4.

The flash bulb and color film invented during the 1930s, and other developments such as new chemicals for film developing and computer-designed lenses originated during World War II, were marketed to the public after the war. In 1950 Riken introduced another camera, the Ricohflex III.

Five years later the company entered the copier market when it developed its first diazo copier, the Ricopy 101. This was followed by the Ricoh Synchrofax in 1959, two micro enlargement copiers in 1960 and 1962, and two duplicators, also introduced in 1960 and 1962.

In 1962, with a handful of employees and $100,000, the company established its first overseas subsidiary, Ricoh Industries USA. The subsidiary initially imported cameras, but it soon began marketing copiers when it realized the sales potential in the United States.

In 1963, following the establishment of its successful subsidiary, the Japanese parent company changed its name to Ricoh Company and continued its success in both copier and photographic equipment.

In 1965 Ricoh entered the budding field of office computers with the debut of the Ricoh Typer Standard, a data-processing system. It also introduced the Ricopy BS-1, and electrostatic coated-paper copier.

The 1970s marked a decade of growth and change for Ricoh and its U.S. subsidiary. During the 1970s Ricoh began to sell cameras and other electronic goods on the U.S. market. Ricoh Industries USA, whose annual sales had climbed to $1.3 million by 1970, was renamed Ricoh of America. In 1973 Ricoh established its second U.S. subsidiary, Ricoh Electronics, in Irvine, California. Created to assemble copier supplies and parts, the subsidiary made Ricoh the first Japanese company to produce copiers in the United States.

During the mid-1970s Ricoh made advances in three important markets. The Rifax 600S, the world’s first high-speed digital facsimile machine, made its debut in 1974 along with the Rinac 1000 System, an information-retrieval system. This was followed by the Ricopy DT1200, the company’s first plain-paper copier, in 1975. Also in 1975, Ricoh was honored with Japan’s highest award for quality control, the Deming Prize.

In 1976 Ricoh introduced the Ricoh Printer 40, an impact (daisy-wheel) printer, followed by the Ricoh WP-1, a word processor. By this time the company’s products covered the field of office automation.

In 1978 Ricoh established Rapicom, formed to develop and market stand-alone, high-speed digital facsimile products, as well as satellite facsimile equipment. Ricoh of America opened a research-and-development facility in Santa Clara, California, in 1977. In 1979, however, the company assigned U.S. research-and-development functions to a new entity, Ricoh Systems.

Despite the fact that it now operated four United States-based companies, Ricoh did not have much U.S. visibility, due in part to the company’s agreement to sell copy machines in the United States under the labels of Savin and Pitney Bowes, two U.S. manufacturers. Early in the 1980s Ricoh announced its intention to market copiers under its own name and to become a major player in the worldwide office-automation market. Takeshi Ouye, president of Ricoh, planned to move carefully into the office-automation market, predicting in June 1980 in Modern Office Procedures “We will be in a position to market a total automation system within ten years.” Ricoh already held the leading position in the international plain-paper copier market, and its additional office products—offset duplicating equipment and systems, diazo copiers, and facsimile, microfilm, word-processing, document, and storage-retrieval equipment—gave the company a boost in its quest for a leading rank in office automation.

In 1981, Ricoh of America began to market Ricoh copiers in the United States. By 1984 the company had achieved a 7% share of the U.S. market. The firm then decided to venture into more advanced copying machines, moving from the $5,000-and-under price range to the $6,000-to-$13,000 range. This step put Ricoh in direct competition with Xerox.

Ricoh’s four-year-old Rapicom subsidiary landed a major account for Telepress, Ricoh’s satellite facsimile product, when it agreed in 1982 to supply the product to Gannett Company, publisher of USA Today. Telepress eliminated the practice of physically transporting the newspaper for printing and then again for distribution.

In 1983 Ricoh introduced an ultra-compact hand-held business computer, the Ricoh SP25, in addition to a new personal computer, the Ricoh SP200, and its first laser printer, the Ricoh LP4120. The company also added two more printers to its line the following year: the Ricoh JP5320, an ink-jet model, and the Ricoh TP3220, a thermal printer.

Longtime Ricoh President Takeshi Ouye was elected chairman in 1983, while Hiroshi Hamada became president. Under their leadership, the company continued to globalize. Previously, much of the company’s new-product research was done overseas, particularly in the United States, and then transferred to Japan, where the products were manufactured. Hamada felt that Ricoh should develop more products domestically and boost production capacity by manufacturing the products both at home and overseas. In the United States, for example, the company made its operation more independent and more responsive to the U.S. economy, merging its U.S. research-and-development operation, Ricoh Systems, with Ricoh Electronics, the production facility, both of which had reported separately to Ricoh in Japan. In addition, the company established Ricoh UK Products Limited in the United Kingdom in 1983, while Ricoh Nederlands opened offices in France and Italy in 1984, as well as a Belgian office in 1985.

In the mid-1980s the company continued aggressive marketing and product-development efforts with the introduction of the RINNET System, a local area network; a color copier; an electronic filing system; an electronic whiteboard; and two minicomputers developed in cooperation with AT&T. As a result, sales grew 20% annually from 1982 to 1985. Ricoh’s alliance with AT&T began with a three-year original-equipment-manufacturing (OEM) contract, in which Ricoh agreed to equip its facsimile machines with AT&T telephones. This was followed, in 1984, by an agreement allowing Ricoh to market AT&T’s minicomputers in Japan. In 1985, the two firms created AT&T Ricoh Company, a joint venture to produce and market modified versions of AT&T’s compact telephone systems. Ricoh lent its Japanese marketing-and-service network to AT&T, and AT&T helped Ricoh enter the telecommunications field.

In 1984 the company’s Atsugi, Japan, plant established a production-technology research center and received the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Award for factory automation. Ricoh also established the Ricoh Research Institute of General Electronics Company, and Ricoh Finance. In addition, the company added a thermal-paper and toner-production facility to its Fukui plant, while Sindo Ricoh Company began producing zoom plain-paper copiers and toner.

In the United States, Ricoh Electronics opened a fully automated thermal-paper-manufacturing plant in Irvine, California. In addition, Ricoh began construction of Ricoh Research and Development Center.

In 1985 Ricoh Corporation (Canada)—formerly Rapifax of Canada—opened a new facility in NePean, Ontario. Ricoh also established two marketing companies in 1986: Ricoh Espana, a joint venture with a Spanish distributor of Ricoh products, and Ricoh France, a wholly owned subsidiary. When Ricoh UK Products began production in May, Ricoh became the first Japanese company to manufacture copiers in the United Kingdom. By 1988 the firm had also added facsimile equipment and supplies to its production capabilities.

Under the guidance of President Hiroshi Hamada, Ricoh established its second European manufacturing subsidiary, Ricoh Industrie France, which produced plain-paper copiers and other office-automation equipment and supplies at a new plant in Alsace.

The firm also strengthened its position in the semiconductor arena with the purchase of Panatech Research & Development Corporation’s semiconductor division in 1987. In May 1987 Ricoh opened a semiconductor-design center in San Jose, California. The center expanded research-and-development efforts for Ricoh’s semiconductor products, which so far included CMOS, a large-scale integrated device that is incorporated in its copiers, facsimiles, and cameras.

In Japan Ricoh introduced Imagio, a new line of office-automation equipment that utilizes a digital system which processes images, produces 20 copies a minute, and functions as an input/output station for electronic filing systems. In addition, the introduction of several new copiers, including a high-speed, multi-functional desktop model, enabled Ricoh to maintain its position as Japan’s leading plain-paper-copier company.

In April 1987 Ricoh reorganized and consolidated its U.S. subsidiaries. The move, calculated to create a “separate Ricoh in North America,” was another move toward globalization for Ricoh. According to Hamada, in the company’s annual report for 1988, the new unit was to “gradually assume greater independence in virtually all aspects of its operations.” Hamada also revealed plans to create another independent Ricoh in Europe, a plan which would begin by increasing production capacity.

In 1988 the company released a lightweight, compact eight-millimeter camcorder in the United States and Japan. The company also opened Ricoh Software Research in Santa Clara, California, to develop custom software for three-dimensional computer-aided design and database markets. The software products are designed for existing and future original-equipment-manufacture clients. Also that year, Ricoh’s overseas sales exceeded domestic sales for the first time. Ricoh’s product line included facsimile machines, data-processing equipment, cameras, and copying machines and supplies. It was one of only a few companies making four different types of copying machines: the diazo, the electro-fax, the plain-paper copier, and the duplicator.

While many Japanese companies suffered decreases in their export businesses during the mid- to late 1980s because of the high value of the yen, Ricoh’s overseas sales grew. Its success was attributed to substantial gains in sales of facsimile machines and laser printers. In addition, Ricoh’s two main office products, copiers and facsimile machines, have earned a major share of the U.S. market. In 1987 Ricoh’s share of the laser-printer and scanner market was about 24%. Ricoh’s goal is to double that share by employing more aggressive marketing efforts through an expanded sales force and its American network of dealers, distributors, and OEM arrangements.

Despite the aggressive sales strategy, Ricoh suffered profit declines in 1986 and 1987, due partly to slimmer profit margins caused by appreciation of the yen. To cope with the high yen, the company planned to continue increasing overseas production. In the late 1980s, it began making copiers at its third U.S. manufacturing plant. This, and a fourth plant, will double Ricoh’s U.S. production. According to the company, about 20% of the products made at the existing facilities, which include copiers, facsimiles, sorters, automatic document feeders, and supplies, are exported to Japan and Europe.

The increase in overseas production puts the firm well on its way to reaching its goal of globalizing and becoming a leader in the office-automation market. In addition, by positioning itself as a supplier of comprehensive automated systems for the office, Ricoh will also be in a prime position when Japanese companies begin to automate their own offices.

Principal Subsidiaries

Ricoh Corporation (U.S.A.); Ricoh Finance Corporation; Ricoh Corporation (Canada), Ltd.; Ricoh Electronics, Inc.; Ricoh Thermal Systems, Inc.; Ricoh Development of California, Inc. (U.S.A.); Ricoh Europe B.V. (Netherlands); Ricoh Office Systems Nederland B.V. (Netherlands); Ricoh Deutschland GmbH (Germany); Ricoh UK Ltd.; Ricoh UK Products Ltd.; Taiwan-Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Ricoh France S.A.; Ricoh Industrie France S.A.; Ricoh Optical Industries Co., Ltd.; Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Hasama Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Tokki Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Denshi Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Keiki Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Research Institute of General Electronics Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Microelectronics Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Educational Equipment Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Information System Co., Ltd.; Nihon Business Supply Co., Ltd.; Hokkaido Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Miyagi Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Saitama Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Kanagawa Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Aichi Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Osaka Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Hyogo Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Fukuoka Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Ricoh Tecnonet Co., Ltd.

—Kim M. Magon